Collecting Users [2006]

I have, quite accidentally, amassed a small collection of cameras and photographic equipment. For the most part almost everything I own is
a user and not a shelf queen,
however, I'd be lying if I said that I used
all the cameras I own regularly.

My problem is that I can't pass up a bargain
and, with the digital revolution in full swing,
modest film equipment is going for very small
money. I anticipate that there will be a backlash
at some point in the future when enthusiasts
experience some seller's remorse about their
old film equipment that they sold to buy their
all-singing and all-dancing DSLR. It will also
be interesting to see how many of today's DSLR's
are still being used and are called classics
10 years from now. I bought into the now 'obsolete'
Olympus OM system in the summer on 1986. At
that time my OM-2 spot/program was the height
of understated, elegant sophistication. Today
it is still the camera I pick up when I want
to use a 35mm SLR.

Prices for many of the consumer rangefinders
that I love continue to fall. A year or two
ago a nice XA cost $100. With interest in film
falling it is not hard to now find a working
XA for $50. I just picked up a near mint Canonet
G-III QL for $40 from the local classifieds
complete with it's original flash and yet it
seems like only yesterday that I was hunting
for one on eBay without success. Prices for
high end, collectable and cult items will always
remain strong (we won't be seeing $50 Leicas
or fast Zuiko lenses going begging on eBay
any day soon) but at the consumer / enthusiast
end of the spectrum there are bargains to be
had. One thing the camera industry doesn't
publisize that much is the advances in film
technology it has made in the last decade.
It's a quiet revolution compared to the digital
one but contrast, latitude, range , speeds,
color accuracy and saturation have all improved.
To experience these benefits you don't a new
fangled camera; just load your old camera with
new film.

Don't get me wrong; I am no Luddite. I love
digital cameras too; I do the majority of my
shooting straight to digital and all of my
darkroom work is now done on my PC. I do like
to experiment and explore though. Picking up
a fixed lens rangefinder makes you shoot in
a wholly different way than with a whiz-bang
digicam with its super zoom. The character
of each camera changes your working practices
slightly and makes you think in a bit of a
different way and those new challenges help
to keep me from feeling stagnant. I do understand
that my love of cameras and equipment contradictorily
has the potential to come in the way of my
development as a photographer but sometimes
I can't help myself. The draw of leather, chrome,
brass and glass is difficult to resist.

Comments

Martin, I must admit I can't resist either. Collector cameras in excellent condition will always be good investments in my opinion and there are amazing opportunites now. I work digital, collect cameras and once in a while make pictures with non-digital cameras like the Leica Z2X which makes outstanding pictures and can be picked up for peanuts now. As it turns out, I have excellent investment results from collecting vintage cameras.